Raidou Kuzunoha XIV

Based Uchikoshi

Forewarning: There's some minor AI: The Somnium Files - Nirvana Initiative spoilers in the full Twitter thread.

I've recently been playing Star Wars the Force Unleashed on the Xbox, having never played this version before (originally played the Wii version back in the day, which if you're not aware, was essentially a different game). Also just a forewarning, this is one of my "trips down memory lane" tangents so it's gonna be loooong (though I'm sure you've already noticed that already).

Back on topic, playing the Force Unleashed, along with other early-ish (2005-2009) 7th gen games in the past year or so... I've noticed they've started to have this somewhat "distinct" feeling to them for me now, like how games from previous generations often also have their distant looks/feel/quirks/etc. For example, the PS1 with its blocky graphics, warping textures, sausage like appendages for limbs, the slight "jank" to the frame rate and movement in many 3D games, the pre-rendered backgrounds, etc.

For early 7th gen games, the graphics generally haven't aged that well - what were once realistic graphics now simply just look outdated and kinda blurry. Environmental destruction seemed to be all the rage, lots of rather drab and gritty colour palettes aside from 1st party Nintendo games, I started noticing texture pop-in became a thing (have never really noticed this with 6th gen games or older), lots of realistic style games had objects with a "shiny" or metallic look to them, also many playable protagonists were kinda boring self-insert-type characters that lacked personality.

There also seemed to be a boom of linear action hack-n-slash games, at least that I noticed. Quite a few on the Wii as well taking advantage of the motion controls. Tons of open world games as well, which extended into the 8th gen. Also, games with a good-evil morality system (which I've always liked the idea of, but I've yet to find a game that has implemented it amazingly tbh). And of course... It was the dark era of JRPGs, which has always upset me dearly. Thankfully it wasn't completely devoid of them though, and the DS had a lot of good Japanese games to offer.

And finally, speaking of the Force Unleashed on Wii essentially being a different game - I think this was the last generation where we saw games with the exact same name being entirely different games on different platforms, like a game existing on the home consoles but also having a handheld console version that was completely different, not uncommonly by a different developer as well. These pretty much stopped existed later on in the 7th generation. It also seemed to be the last generation where we got movie tie-in games (for the most part).

Moving on, I wonder if 8th gen games will ever have their own distinct "feel" for me or not. There's many late 7th gen games that could pass for 8th gen games (at least ones early in the generation), and likewise, many 8th gen and 9th gen games currently are fairly interchangeable. There's also a lot more variety to how games look and play nowadays. But I also had similar thoughts all those years ago when the 360 and PS3 were still new, so... I guess we'll see in another decade or so.

I find it fascinating how things that once felt mind blowing and fresh to me are now things of the past, and often kinda feel it when I play games from those generations now. Even games I never touched back in the day will often still have that distinct "yeah, this is an X year/X gen game" feel to 'em. There's definitely some things I do miss about older games, but conversely there's other things I'm glad no longer exist.

I never thought I'd say it but the early 7th generation is definitely starting to feel "retro" for me now. I still have many mixed feelings about that generation, there were lots of things I loved about it, and many things I didn't. I think overall, the 8th gen has been a much more enjoyable journey for me, and has been one of my favourites since the 6th generation of consoles. I'm not quite sure if the 9th gen will be able to top it in the long run, but time will tell.

I've been waiting on Digimon Survive and Xenoblade Chronicles 3 to show up since Thursday (they were dispatched Wednesday, Royal Mail 24). And I've literally not even had a single letter show up for 3 days now... I guess there's still some time for Royal Mail to deliver today, but it seems unlikely at this point. First time in a while RM has been this painfully slow. I've heard there may still be backlog due to the heat wave here a week or so back. Hope they turn up Monday at least, it's definitely dampened my weekend a little. :c